Climate Action Plan

We are delighted to say that we are now registered and actively participating in the Eco Schools Club.

The Eco Schools programme for early years is designed to engage young learners and nursery practitioners in sustainability and environmental education.

Sustainability Lead – Simone Fox

We are committed to complying with the DfE requirement to move our nursery towards net zero by 2050. This means reducing our carbon footprint, embedding sustainability in our curriculum, engaging parents in this aim and working with the local community.

We are working towards the Government’s sustainability aims by:

• Including elements around Sustainability in our curriculum.
• Spending time outside every day, learning about the weather, seasonal changes, planting and growing.
• Teaching our children how to monitor our carbon footprint in the setting.
• Engaging parents in their child’s sustainability curriculum.
• Working with colleagues to support local community projects when possible.

We recognise that we have a bigger role to play in the Government’s aim to reach net zero by 2050.

• We want to further improve our curriculum.
• We want to reduce our carbon footprint even more and we will challenge ourselves to improve our sustainability through termly reflection and planning future projects.
• We are always looking for new projects to get involved in within the local community.

As part of the DfE net zero aims by 2050, The DfE states that early year’s providers need to write a climate action plan. DfE states that our climate action plan should cover 4 main areas of provision:

• Decarbonisation.
• Adaptation and resilience.
• Biodiversity.
• Climate education and green careers.

Decarbonisation

We are committed to reducing carbon emissions by, for example:

• Becoming more energy efficient by using LED lightbulbs where possible and turning them off when we leave the room and turning off electrical points when not in use.
• We will continue to encourage parents and carers to dress their children in additional warm clothing and provide outdoor waterproofs when the weather is colder/wetter. Staff will also wear warm outdoor clothing when appropriate, this will alter as seasons change, heating appliances are not used in warmer weather.
• Reducing waste and recycling.  We will continue to encourage the children to help us reduce waste and recycle.
• Monitoring and reducing the use of carbon emissions. We have families that already walk to nursery, but we will continue to promote this and cycling and monitor it with the children.

Adaptation and resilience

We are committed to taking actions to reduce the risk of impact from climate change, for example:

• Teaching children about the world around them. Our setting is situated in the city centre and whilst our outdoor space is not large, we do gardening with the children and use the areas around us to help provide a rich learning experience particularly in knowledge and understanding of the world, through science experiments, planting and growing food, nurturing the seedlings and plants. We have a number of age-related stories about the world we live in, and use these as part of the curriculum.
• Spending time outside and with nature every day whilst on our Daily mile, outings and in our garden.
• Protecting wildlife in our garden with our bug hotel and plants for them to feed and thrive.
• Through play and learning we teach the children about the wider environment, and their local communities.
• Environmentally friendly routines. We have clear labelled bins for recycling. We have in place a regular handwashing routine, we encourage the children to think about, and maintain a clean environment, especially after playing outside, after toilet and before meal times. At snack and meal times we try to reduce food waste by encouraging the children to only take what they are going to eat.
• We involve children in sorting and recycling materials from nursery packaging, which the children can use and explore.
• Managing water and teaching the children to reduce water wastage. The children bring to nursery their own reusable water bottles, we teach the children to turn off taps, and discuss how water is a precious resource.
• Our children love water play and it has been recommended in the EYFS that children experience it as part of their learning. As a nursery on rainy days, we encourage the children to catch rainwater using various containers so they can use it in their play. When a water tray is being tap filled, we will keep it to a minimum, being mindful of water waste, this is explained to the children and learnt through their play. We will re-use water from water play, for rinsing outdoor play equipment and watering plants.

Biodiversity

We are committed to taking actions to reduce the risk of impact from climate change, for example:

• Planting in the garden, using collected seeds and recycled plant pots.

Climate education and green careers

We are committed to our children being educated about climate education and given opportunities that will prepare them for learning more about sustainability and life-long learning.

• Learning more about climate change so we can share the information with the children.
• Including science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) learning in our curriculum.
• Planning activities which teach children about nature and the natural world.

The Day Nursery Action Plan – Eco School

Date Action Plan was developed: ______01^st August 2025__                   Action Plan developed by: ____Simone Fox______________